Air force job cuts
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Discussion - Panama is going through a housing boom. Most of the new homes are not yet completed or occupied. This would mean they are not yet included into the study. If one puts a deposit on a home paying $3500 a sq. meter this is not a completed transaction and thus would not be included in any statistics concerning real estate prices which are based on actual sales, not based on deposits. When these new projects get certificates of occupancy then we will see the cost of living spike up sharply. Housing is the largest expenditure one generally makes. This will then rack Panama up there in the cost of living index.
Introduction - Mercer Human Resource Consulting has released their 2007 findings. These are surveys which rate cities according to certain criteria they elect to use. They use New York City as a baseline with a rating of 100 for their surveys. Cities coming in under that are worse and over that are better. Mercer is a well-respected source of this information.
Panama Standings for Quality of Living - Mercer uses 39 criteria to determine quality of living. These criteria include social, economic, crime, police, banking, currency and related controls, censorship by the government, personal freedoms, medical facilities, doctors and pharmacies, education, transportation, public services, weather, climate, and other criteria. It is not based on the number of bars, restaurants, ballparks etc although these are factors in the equation. It is not a surprise that Baghdad is the worst city in this survey with a score of 14.5. Zurich hit the number one spot for quality of life with a score of 108.1 and Geneva comes in close with a score of 108. Vancouver and Vienna follow with a score of 107 tied for third place. Panama comes in with a score of 82.9 situating it in 92nd place. So mercer feels that there are 91 better cities to live in.